The wife of an overseas Filipino worker (OFW) from this landlocked province appealed to President Benigno Aquino III to help her husband who was convicted of murder by a Shariah court in Saudi Arabia. Edgardo Genetiano, 50, of Bascaran village in Solano town, is languishing on death row in a Saudi prison in connection with the killing of a fellow worker three years ago. He, along with two other OFWs, were convicted early this month. Genetiano's wife, Evelyn, 49, decided to seek presidential assistance because she is getting hopeless due to what she said was lack of attention from concerned Philippine agencies. On June 5, a Saudi court sentenced Genetiano to death, along with Victorino Gaspar of Roxas, Isabela, and Jun Mequiabas from southern Philippines, for killing of Rey Dimaculangan of Cabuyao, Laguna, in April 2007. The three are scheduled to be hanged in December. Until his jailing, Genetiano had been working as an electrician since 2000 in the oil-rich country. “We were at the airport, we were waiting for his arrival on April 21 that year but he never alighted from the plane. I only learned of what happened to him after a few days when one of his co-workers called up and told me that he got into a certain trouble,” is wife recalled. The Genetianos have two children, a 19-year-old college freshman and a Grade 6 pupil. Both had to stop their schooling due to financial difficulties brought by the tragedy. On Tuesday, she sought an audience with Gov. Luisa Cuaresma for some financial assistance to personally follow up her husband's case with the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), hoping that her meeting with higher authorities would save her husband.
